Post Covid-19 lockdown: Developing a Wellbeing Action Plan

2020 has been a year of unexpected disruption, change and transition. For church staff team members, as with many others, this will have likely affected the physical location of their work, the quantity of work, the type of work, the focus of their work and their relationships with work colleagues. Huge uncertainty still exists and many changes are ahead. The mental health charity Ginger has recently reported that nearly 7 out of 10 people cite the Covid-19 lockdown as the most stressful time in their career. What approach is your church or you as a manager taking to looking after the wellbeing of your team during this time of uncertainty? 

One approach is to develop a Wellness Action Plan for each team member. WAPs are based on Mary Ellen Copeland's Wellness Recovery Action Plans (WRAP) and are advised by the mental health charity Mind as a way of looking after your team. Putting a Wellness Action Plan together is a task to be completed mutually by the line manager and the direct report and is a great way to value the individual's feelings, recognise the challenges of transition and proactively support your team in the times ahead. You can read Mind's excellent guidance here: https://www.mind.org.uk/workplace/mental-health-at-work/taking-care-of-your-staff/employer-resources/wellness-action-plan-download/. Here is what Rachel Slough (Consultant and tutor on the UCAN Managing Church Well course) has to say about developing a Wellbeing action plan:

Download our Wellbeing Action Plan templates here:

WAP doc format

WAP PDF format

What's Next? Don't rush back, venture forward...

Now that June has come about, and the novelty of the lockdown arrangements have certainly worn thin, we are living in another phase of uncertainty.

Some restrictions on our lives are starting to ease a bit, and this brings a level of practical relief. However, we don’t know if a second wave of the outbreak is on the way and we don’t know when and how further derestriction will come. The rate of exit from lockdown, even when self-governed, may be different and disparate, regionally, demographically and ethnically. It is into this present set of challenges that we write.

 At UCAN we have long been a proponent of operating as a church with clarity of purpose. This is just as important now, but the purpose is not to rush back to what there was before.

 The question to avoid is ‘How quickly can we return to normal, as it was before this all happened?’ As we move towards July 2020, this question is starting to be voiced. However, it is not a realistic question and no matter how well intentioned, it betrays the reality of the situation.

 We don’t know what normal will be, but the ‘new normal’ is highly likely to be different from the ‘prior’ normal’. This is a social, economic and a missional reality.

UCAN’s guidance when considering What’s Next? Don’t rush back, venture forward…

The links below contain thematic guidance on your approach to Building Management, People Management, Weekend Worship, Financial Planning and Communications when moving forward into the next phase, post lockdown. This guidance is not meant to be exhaustive and should be used in conjunction with government guidelines, denominational guidance and your normal pattern of risk assessment.

• What’s Next? Don’t rush back, venture forward guidance document (18 pages, PDF)

• Template risk assessment for reopening

• Template checklist for reopening

Top tips for moving beyond lock-down

1.      Download and read the excellent “Senior Pastors’ Guide to Reopening” from Church Fuel. It may be American, but it’s anchored well and a good read for your minister to navigate a central line of balance between the spiritual and the practical.

2.      Put health, safety and well-being of your employees first – which means an updated risk assessment. Think staggered working hours, bringing staff back in ‘waves’ and avoiding hot-desking where possible. An increased cleaning regime, and marking/tape to identify social distancing regions, and potentially moving desks around to ensure people face away from each other. The Government advises that employers should not encourage their employees to use personal protective equipment as a precautionary measure unless they are operating in a health and social care setting or are responding to a suspected or confirmed case of Covid-19. This advice is based on the Government’s view that personal protective equipment will provide very limited additional protection unless the employee is working in a setting where the risk of Covid-19 is very high.

3.      Any kind of return to a building or service must be collaborative with colleagues and in agreement with each person. Don’t do all the thinking in isolation and then try and dictate changes.

4.      Take time over this – there is no rush back and it would be highly detrimental to find yourself unprepared if you find yourself with a diagnosed case of Covid-19 to deal with on site.

5.      Clear communication with your staff, congregation is not optional. People are going to have a variety of perspectives on whether it is right to return to meeting others, and when.

We’ll be publishing further Covid-19 resources, looking beyond lockdown over the coming weeks and months, so do keep your eyes open for new content on our website and forums. Also, if you have anything particular that you would like to share with others, make use of the forum or get in touch at info@churchadministrators.net

Coronavirus resources and support

How are you adjusting to the new norm? Churches across the UK and the world are facing a unique set of circumstances which have very quickly changed the operational reality of being the body of Christ.

Fortunately, we worship a God who is the same, yesterday, today and forever and He will remain a sustaining source of strength, peace and wisdom throughout the present challenges.

UCAN remains committed to offering support and resource to the UK church as it seeks to adjust its practices and administrate itself in a socially-distancing world. A lot of this support comes through our local group network , many of whom are meeting virtually or communicating guidance by email, our online members forum hosted on facebook (just a busy as ever) and through direct requests received at the UCAN office (info@churchadministrators.net and 0300 302 1887). However, here are some general tips and guidance if helpful:

Communications

• We’ve observed that churches who use a Church Management system as the central core to their administration have found the communication realities of the present situation easier to deal with. A good CMS will help facilitate pastoral response, mass mailings, text messages, securely sharing prayer needs and online meeting logins and online giving. There are lots of good products out there, with Churchsuite, iKnow and Church Insight being 3 popular examples used by many of the UCAN membership. CMS products can be easy to setup and migrate to, and this may be an opportune moment for your church to do so. If you need support from UCAN, please get in touch with us to have an informal conversation or to book in a video demo or consultation. If you need any remote support with the migration, we are happy to quote.

• Over the past year, as we’ve toured around the UK providing Communications training, we have stressed the importance of using social media to facilitate and build community. This has never been truer than today. How is your church approaching using social media in the context of social distancing. Lots of advice can be accessed here https://covid.churcheshandbook.co.uk/

• When using Zoom for video calls, please follow the security guidance found here. Zoom has taken great steps to strengthen guidance in response to the unsavoury practice of Zoom-bombing, which has affected lots of religious groups.

• Please do not overlook those who are not on social media or do not have access to video conferencing. You may want to allocate resources, finance or the loan of equipment to get the isolated onto zoom for continued fellowship. Or you may need to organise newsletters to be posted, greeting cards to be sent out and a phone list to be managed to help keep everyone in touch. As a church, let’s encourage our members to not only support each other through the present challenges, but also to be active with their neighbours and other communities.

• Hopefully you have been able to migrate to streamed or online services and support, but if you need specific advice in this respect, please do get in touch.

Employment

• Lots of churches have needed to furlough staff, facilitate home working and make general HR adjustments. Again, if you need specific support, please get in touch. Furloughing staff members, where they generally have no work responsibilities to carry out due to Covid-19 may be a helpful way for you to manage your finances and mitigate some fo the financial risk from a reduction in income. You can visit Stewardship , Anthony Collins Solicitors or Charles Russell Speechlys for Covid-19 employment advice, specific to the charity sector and churches.

• If you would like to discuss any of your employment considerations with UCAN, please get in touch with our team.

• Please be encouraged to remain pastorally active in caring for your staff team, maintaining a healthy sense of team, communicating openly and realistically about work expectations and being aware of any financial considerations of the staff members affected by reduction in hours.

Finance

• Stewardship have lots of guidance available on the response to Covid-19 and financial risk management as charitable trustees.

• You may like to consider putting in place a 3 month and 6 month cash-flow forecast, identifying ways to minimise outgoings and risk assessing any potential drop in income. Voluntary donations may decrease as church members find their incomes shrinking and room hire income will probably have ceased. Furloughing some staff may be part of your financial action plan to mitigate risk.

• If a significant proportion of your income came from voluntary donations collected through your public worship (Sunday offering), you may need to find digital ways to facilitate online giving, or to encourage people to migrate to standing orders. You can speak to Stewardship about this, or you can look at solutions offered through church management systems (see above) or standalone providers such as Givt.

• Over the past few years, we’ve been hugely impressed at the level of service and functionality offered by the cloud based financial management tool Expenseplus. We’ve heard from many of our members over the past month how much they appreciate using this system now they are working from home. If your financial management has been impacted or stalled by working from home, with your system being locally based in the church office, do consider whether migrating to Expenseplus or one of the other cloud based accountancy packages may be a sensible option for you. Do ensure that the system is suitable for charity fund accounting, accountability policies and will allow access for multiple users. If you need help or advice, particularly in relation to our experience with Expenseplus, please get in touch.

We hope and pray that you adjusting well to the present circumstances and are finding the support and guidance you need. Our ‘virtual door’ is always open, so if you need help or would appreciate a catch-up chat, then please get in touch. Bishop Stephen Cottrell, recently said that although there is nothing good about the virus, this won’t prohibit God from working good things during the crisis. Our prayer is that you will see God at work and will experience his grace, peace, healing, mercy and love throughout.

25th March 2020: Special Covid-19 Update

25th March 2020: Special Covid-19 Update

It is a unique time that we live and minister in. Please be assured of our prayers as you seek to plan your evolving response to this season of challenge. This additional UCAN news update comes out as part of our response to supporting the church during Covid-19, but please remember that we are available on the UCAN members' forum and contactable via info@churchadministrators.net and 0300 302 1887 throughout.  

As a central UCAN team, please can we urge you that:

• The planning for all responses and activity should start and end with prayer. Let's keep taking this situation to God who is always bigger than the challenges we face, continually sovereign and endlessly loving.

• The church's response must be in line with the UK government's guidance. Please keep abreast of all changes to guidance as delivered on an almost daily basis.

For those who have denominational affiliation you can keep up-to-date with practical guidance and support from the following links. This guidance is of course available to all.

• baptist.org.uk/corona

• churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-churches

• methodist.org.uk/about-us/coronavirus/official-guidance/

• parishresources.org.uk/coronavirus/

Some further detail on the practical implications of the Prime Minister's broadcast on 23rd March can be found at this government link. This includes the following brief reference to 'Places of Worship': Funerals following the social distancing guidance; places of worship should remain open for solitary prayer. Live streaming of a service without audience would be permissible.'  

Below is some additional information that you may find helpful in the coming days and months:

UCAN 

• In line with government guidance all UCAN events are currently postponed and will be rescheduled when sensible to do so. All individual participants booked on to courses and events will be contacted directly. Delegates from our 'Managing Church Well' course will be provided with the opportunity to touch base via video conference for a catch-up, support and to look at additional learning material together. A further email will come out in relation to this.

• UCAN local groups should not be meeting face-to-face, however we strongly encourage these valuable communities to be active via email, phone and video conferencing. If you need advice in relation to meeting via video, please get in touch via info@churchadministrators.net

• The UCAN online member's forum (hosted on facebook) is the place to be. It is busier than ever, providing lots of support about adhering to government guidance, online streaming and working from home. Thank you to all our wonderful contributors sharing their wisdom and experience.

Making good use of the time

Across the country our individual and personal circumstances have been thrown into turmoil and uncertainty. There are very real pressures and concerns now being experienced as part of everyday life. You alone will be aware of your capacity and restrictions in this present situation. In amongst the uncertainty, the crisis management and the need for home schooling, social distancing and increased pastoral care:

Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10

• Let's be those who draw closer to God and abide with Him in amongst the enforced solitude.

• Let's also be active and consistent in our communication with our church membership, facilitating a new way to be 'scattered church'.  (See below and on the forum for suggestions).

• Also, as time and capacity allows, could you do something each week which is not virus related? You may find this beneficial to your motivation and emotional health. Perhaps something which will move you towards longer term goals and greater Kingdom impact? Maybe there has been an area of application from recent UCAN training that you haven't yet found time to implement. It may be auditing and planning your communications, praying into strategy, optimising workflows to build community or seeking to implement a better weekly working pattern for balance and wellbeing. No matter what the cause of the enforced solitude, does working from home provide an opportunity for something new? Perhaps you have a small amount of additional time resulting from the decrease in church services and activities. Can you turn part of this circumstance into a positive for development and Kingdom advancement? If helpful, a reminder, that the Resource Pack (presentations and recordings) from the recent Cutting Edge 2020 day conference 'Clearing the Channels' is available online for free to attendees (via email link) and for purchase from the UCAN shop churchadministrators.net/shop, discounted for UCAN members.

You of course, may just need to prioritise keeping your head above water, as you balance being an Administrator and School teacher in a less than ideal environment, with a lack of resource. Whatever your circumstance, please be encouraged and…

Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10

  Practical support and guidance:

If the outbreak of Covid-19 is causing you lots of practical challenges in relation to administration and you're confused as to where to start, please make use of the UCAN forum or email info@churchadministrators.net for guidance and support.  Some areas for consideration are listed below and we are happy to advise on all of the following:

Cloud computing and online systems

• Online collaboration via systems such as Office 365 and Google suite

• VOIP phone systems to provide a portable point of contact (public number) now your church phone line resides in a closed building

• Regular communications via Church Management Systems, Mailchimp and social media platforms to build community and release updates

• Video conferencing for meetings and small groups using Zoom or MS Teams

Online streaming and Social Media presence

• Streaming content via youtube, facebook or other platforms. Have you considered promoting other live streams if you can't provide one yourself.

• Sharing a video'd sermon or 'thought for the day' which can filmed and uploaded from any smartphone or tablet.

• Connecting your church membership with daily devotional apps such as Lectio365 or BIOY or looking at lent resources from denominational sources.

• Promoting the use of WhatsApp, Facebook Groups, regular emails, video updates and web site posts for information exchange, encouragement and community news.

Financial risk management

• Are you heavily dependent on Sunday service offerings. Could you look to move this giving to a monthly standing order or to implement or promote online giving solutions such as GIVT, Stewardship (give.net) or functionality offered by your church management system.

• You may need to reduce expenditure. Does your finance team need to meet via video conference to consider your options? How up-to-date are your yearly figures and reporting? If you feel you may need to reduce your staffing expenditure, please look into the Coronavirus job retention scheme. This is applicable for charities. Through the scheme you can furlough workers who now have no work to complete and who may be unaffordable given the circumstances. An example of this may be a caretaker or cleaner, whose sole work responsibility relate to a building which is now closed? 80% of average earnings, up to £2,500 a month per furloughed worker, can be reclaimed. Find out details here.

With our prayers, encouragement and support for such a time as this….

Andy, Julian, Jules, Penny and Joyce

UCAN Board of Directors